As I was working on the final touches of the seventh grade curriculum last month it struck me how many times I said “Remember when you studied this in 3rd grade…” or “you can see how this history lesson relates to the math lesson we are doing this year…”
When I look through the Earthschooling curriculum from preschool to seventh grade I can FEEL the harmony pulsing through it. Just like many Waldorf teachers that take a class through many years together I’ve also written every lesson myself over the past 13 years and am able to relate this continuity to member teachers, parents and students.
Why is Curriculum Alignment Important?
* Do you ever feel like you are training students for a trivia game instead of life?
* Do you ever wonder if your students are getting all the information they need each year?
* Are you worried about how your student measures up to other students in their age group?
* Do you switch between curricula only to be left repeating subjects or missing subjects?
Curriculum alignment should be one of the first things you consider when purchasing a curriculum. Curriculum alignment assures that you will not have any gaps in learning from one year to the next, that learning from year to year will build on itself and that goals for each age will be met.
Horizontal curriculum alignment allows lesson blocks to closely align which can lead to important crossover lessons and deeper levels of knowledge and understanding.
Vertical alignment (organizing curriculum from one grade level or content area to the next) assures that students will be building on knowledge from the previous years, will be able to seamlessly review content from previous years by having it integrated in the next year’s curriculum and will not experience any gaps in their knowledge.
Because Earthschooling offers curriculum from ages preschool to high school we are able to offer all of our members this experience. By using Earthschooling you can rest assured that your lessons are both vertically and horizontally aligned from early childhood all the way through high school!
Now YOUR child can experience this continuity of education with less effort from you! You can now choose to receive all of your materials instantly without any curriculum downloading. After you order your chosen grade I will send you instructions to install a program that many of you already use. Once this program is in place all of your e-books, videos and MP3s will “magically” appear in a file folder on your computer! Order your curriculum now from Earthschooling and get started on your magical and harmonious journey now!
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